ABSTRACT
According to classical liberal theory, the freedom to publish in the free market ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in society. If a viewpoint is missing in the press, this is only because it lacks a sufficient following to sustain it in the marketplace. As the heroine puts it in Tom Stoppard’s play Night and Day, ‘The Flat Earth News is free to sell a million copies. What it lacks is the ability to find a million people with … a conviction that the earth is flat. Freedom is neutral’. The free market, it is also argued, makes the press a representative insti-
tution. ‘The broad shape and nature of the press’, proclaims John Whale, ‘is ultimately determined by no one but its readers’. This is because newspapers and magazines must respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business. Some liberal theorists view the market as an analogue of the electoral
process. They claim that newspapers submit themselves to public judgement every time they go on sale, whereas politicians stand for election at infrequent intervals. Consequently newspapers are closer to the people than are their elected representatives. The market-based press is independent because it owes allegiance only to
the public. The press is the people’s watchdog, scrutinizing the actions of government and holding the country’s rulers to account. Its reporting of the news keeps readers abreast of important events and developments, and enables them to exercise informed judgements at election time. By providing a forum of public debate, the press also facilitates the formation of public opinion. This opinion is then relayed by the press – the people’s tribune – to those in power. There is thus a clear sequence of argument, which begins with the claim
that the free market renders the press diverse, representative and independent. The press’s autonomy enables it to fearlessly scrutinize government, brief the electorate, stage a national debate and relay public opinion to authority. To this are sometimes added ancillary functions such as expressing the shared values of the public, assisting society to adapt to change and exposing wrongdoing.
